Been ages since I've posted anything. I visit now and then but don't bother posting with nothing to contribute. Just posting for the curious that I did have my door made. 30" x 48". Bought my track as well. Looking for foam sheet to glue on top of the door now. Wow is that stuff expensive! I guess 2" would do, or thicker? I don't need to cut into it deeply, I just need it mostly for sound deadening.
In any real sense, 1" should probably do for a lot of work in N. It can be stacked to create more relief, and I would think the 1" would provide more than enough "cushion" for the sound deadening, and save at least a little bit.
Actually, foam base acts like a sounding board, so if you can put down cork roadbed for the track it helps quiet it down.
If thoroughly glued to the door, should be OK. Roadbed and scenery atop that should eliminate any noise worries. I agree that an inch is enough.
Any suggestions on what to glue to the door? Two inch pink or blue insulation, the type they place before they side your home, is over 40 bucks for a 4 x 8 sheet ... and the type of glue you might suggest. I bought a low heat glue gun from Hobby Lobby with 5 sticks in the package for gluing the Kato track down. Thanks
I just bought a 1 inch thick sheet of the pink foam board insulation and it was about $15. They also had 3/4", and 1/2", but the price is not that much less. I first used white glue, but then tried liquid nails. Just weight it down while you let it dry. It is just a clear silicone sealant so you should be able to use what you can get cheaply. As for the drum head effect with thw foam, I found that glued to a solid surface it does not seem to be an issue, but when I just had a boxed frame with cross supports, it was just like a drum. I used a low temp hot glue gun to glue my track also, but you should work in short sections as it cools pretty quickly. Other than that it worked nicely and holds very well. Good luck and post about your progress. Trey
Just like too many other things, The cost of foam board seems to keep sneaking upward. For an adhesive, something which does not attack the foam. I have used the Liquid Nails Adhesive "Projects & Foam Board". (Caulking gun tube, #LN-604)
Ken has a good point about the caulk, just make darned sure it's a latex caulk, not a petroleum based product which will eat away the foam. And I've been able to find half sheets of blue foam (2 foot by 8) at Lowes, so that could be an option.
I wonder if anyone noticed I was gone for some time. Humor me and say you missed me. If you did notice, I had a brush with a health issue that caused me to bluntly ask the surgeon if I needed to be making my own funeral arrangements. That was tough, folks ... real tough. The good news is that after my surgery, and the pathology report was in, he said it came back cancer, but the good kind. I said, repeat that please. (I had never before ever heard the words good cancer before) It was cancer but he said it would never kill me, but it would return and they'd have to keep an eye on me and remove it from time to time. Okay, nuff said about that. At that same time frame my elderly mother started experiencing age related dementia on top of her physical health issues. Hospice is now involved and she requires close observation and care on my part. Earlier this spring, despite being quite overwhelmed at times, completely exhausted, etc, I managed to get a handyman to build a train table for me. I've had the HCD in 30"x48" for several years just waiting on me. All I have to get done first is to clear my corner of the living room and tuck the train table in that corner. I have a sheet of blue foam to cover the HCD which will fit neatly inside the top frame of the table. He cut a groove in the sideboards and placed plexiglass there so I don't have a train jump the tracks and dump onto the floor. I think some of you might actually be fairly impressed with how I asked him to make this for me. I even have a shelf under the table to set things on, it has casters on the legs for easy moving. I'm excited ... just aching to get my mind off my own health issues (I have other health issues as well), and to get some relief from worrying about my dear elderly mother so constantly. Her next birthday she'll be 90. Post Script notes: The plexiglass is cloudy in appearance because I've left the protective film on them for now. Also, the blue foam board sets low in the table top frame because, in these photos, I didn't place the HCD in the frame yet (under the foam board).
What a timely thread. I am looking for a cheap desk for when I move back to my place. I had settled on a couple of used file cabinets with an HCD across them. Since I plan to 'tile' the surface I don't care what it looks like. As for trains? I wish I could have a 2' deep space.
I hope you find something acceptable for you. Apparently your space is limited as well. It can be depressing to want to run a train of your own, and attempt to make that happen on limited funds and/or space. Keep us posted on your progress. I'm glad you found my thread .... I was beginning to wonder if I had become invisible. Maybe I forgot to disengage my cloaking device.
Add me to followers of this thread. My N road is 30+ years old and I'm starting to think about a replacement. We hope to someday move to another home in retirement and HCDs appeal to me because their strength and fairly light weight seem well suited to moves.
Welcome, Hardcoaler. Nearing retirement age here. It's taken several years to accumulate what little I have. It sure isn't much compared to what some of the fellows here have accumulated. I'm just a little guppy in a rather large pond. But, I finally have most items in place now. I don't see finances improving as the Mrs and I edge closer to retirement. My surgery deductibles hit us hard, but then the Mrs had surgery about 6 months after mine, and it darn near wiped us out, we had little left. I feel fortunate overall though. I like the HCD, the lumber guy cut the length to 48" for me, the width was already as needed and therefore left alone. After cutting it, he took the end piece out and glued it in the new end for me - so it looks like it was made 30"x48" from the manufacturer. Pleased as punch you stopped in and visited the thread! Let us know of any further doings, or plans, on your end.
I figure I'll have to cut my HCD to custom length too. I'm now finding that I cannot fit all that I want to in a rectangular space, so am now sketching plans for a slightly larger L-shaped layout. Layout size is further complicated by a dog-leg staircase and tight clearance by a door. I'm also thinking about layout depth and the maximum distance I can comfortably reach, both now and as I grow older. I greatly enjoy seeing member layouts here on Trainboard. Magazines so often feature grand triumphs in our hobby, with massive pikes filling spaces most of us only dream of. While these roads are wonderful, a lot of us live with far less and I tend to find inspiration in smaller pikes. I might be wise to not to anything until we move in perhaps five years, but life has a way of throwing curve balls, especially as we grow older. Prayers to you and your wife for strong recoveries from your surgeries and for financial blessings too.
Took some time this afternoon to post what I've slowly accumulated. It may not be much to some, but I'm happy. Perhaps you can tell by my inventory ... I love everything Christmas and I'm particularly fond of snow scenes. However, due to dusty conditions here I not likely pursue that on the layout. I am toying with a fall scene, which is also a favorite. Trains in the snow, and trains in the rain during the fall ... with all those vibrant colors, really are my modeling desire. So, I've pretty much settled on going for a fall scene, then give it a wet look for the appearance of rain.
That'll build a nice layout and anything PRR is a welcome sight. I'm thinking I'll probably go with Kato Unitrack too, but I've never used sectional track on any previous layout and I worry a bit that it will limit my options. In any case, I'm a long way away from gathering up tools to get started.
Looks like you got a pretty good collection going on there! Glad to see you never gave up. Now put an oval a track down and run some trains! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
To those of you who are using Hollow Core Doors (HCDs) as tables, how are you handling the management of wiring below? I'm used to open grid framework where wires are easily threaded through, but with HCDs there's nothing. I'd rather not pull each wire taut in straight line fashion to the control panel, as the underside will be a messy spiderweb of overlapped wiring. Thank you!
Some folks have added a layer of foam insulation board, atop their door. It is easy to bury wire in that stuff.
